Wales Book of the Year Focus – In Orbit

Published Fri 28 Jun 2024 - By Literature Wales

This blog is part of a series spotlighting the books shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year Award 2024.

This time, we shine a light on In Orbit by Glyn Edwards, shortlisted for the Poetry Award.

***In Orbit*, Glyn Edwards** (Seren)

On receiving news of a beloved teacher’s death, a man struggles with the loss of a relationship sustained by deep admiration and unrequited love. Memories of their shared journey are separated into three orbits where the man’s past, present, and future are punctuated by intense grief.

In Orbit uses a variety of innovative forms to explore loss, from traditional stanzas to prose poems to shaped poems in the form of birds, circuits, or hands. The narrative shifts in time, moving from his teen years to the present day when he himself has become a teacher, working alongside the man he mourns.

The book not only grieves the loss of the teacher, but also toxic standards for boys and men. Beyond human connection, sustenance is found in the moon, the stars, the sky, and nature. The discovery of a badger’s track or the treasure of a bird egg reminds us how small trajectories are in the context of the more-than-human: an answer perhaps to the grieving process.

About the Author

Glyn Edwards is a PhD researcher in ecopoetry at Bangor University. His first poetry collection, Vertebrae, was published by the Lonely Press. He edits Modron, a journal for environmental writing, and the Wild Words feature for North Wales Wildlife Trust. He is a former winner and trustee of the Terry Hetherington Award for Welsh young writers, and works as a teacher in North Wales.